S e c t io n 11.—Examination of the question, whether the
Physical Characters of human Races are in Africa permanent,
or liable to variation, What instances of such
Deviation can be proved to have taken place ?
The inquiry above stated is more important With respect to
the history of mankind, than even that which relates to the
connexion. of physical characters with local circumstances.
Foe if it her allowed that all the characteristics of the Negrh
and the, Hottentot are in relation to the nature of external
agencies in the countries which they inhabit, it iHll not
immediately follow that the climates of Africa are capable of
transmuting other races of men into Negroes or Hottentots,
or of giving rise to peculiarities similar to those which distinguish
these tribes, in others originally destitute of thfem^ It-
might still be maintained that the people1 So- characterised' are
races originally constituted,by nature1 rto ^ribabit particular
r-^ions, and endued from their first creation with peculiari-
ties which render them fit for their abode within a destined
space, just as we suppose the numerous and multiform species
of monkeys to have been originally distinct from, each
other, and each originally fitted to inhabit its own native
seat.
Before I proceed to point out the instances of variation
which can be traced among the African races, it may be useful
to attend to the following consideration.
The dark-coloured nations of Africa do not appear to
form a distinct race, or a distinct kind of people, separated
from all other families of men by a broad line and uniform
among themselves, such as we ideally represent under the
term Negro. There is, perhaps, not one tribe in which all the
characters ascribed to the Negro are found in the highest
degree, and in general they are distributed to different races
in all manners of ways, and combined in each instance with
more or fewer of the characters belonging to the European or
the Asiatic.
The distinguishing peculiarities of the African nations, may
be summed up into four heads, viz. thef characters of com-
plexibnj-of hair, features, and figure. We have to remark,
1. That some races,, with woolly hair and complexions of a
deep black colour, have fine forms, regular and beautiful features,
and are, in their figure and countenances, .scarcely different
from Europeans; .Such-are the Iolofs, near the Senegal,
and the race of Guber,hor,' of Hausa, in the interior
of Shdan. r Some tribe^oft tlj^iSouth African race, as the
darkest of the Kafirs, are nearly;.of this description, as well as
some families or tribes in the empire of Kongo, while ^others
have more of the Negro character in. their countenances and
form.
■ 12. Other tribes, have the form and features similar to those
above described :, their complexion is black, or a deep olive ot
copper-colour approaching to black, while their hair, though
often crigp. and frizzled, is not fhedeasf woolly. \ Such are the
Bishari and the Dan&kil and Hazorta, and the darkest «oft the
Abyssinians. v
jf 3. ..Other instances have heen mentioned in which the complexion
is black, and the features have the, Negro* type, while
the nature of the hair deviates considerably, and is even, said
to be rather long and in flowing ringlets.'., Some of the tribes
near the Zambesi .axe of thisclass. ■
4. 'Among nations whose colour deviates towards a lighter
hue*, we find some who have woolly hair, with a figure and
features approaching to the European. Suchi.are the Bech-
uana Kafirs, of as light brown complexion. The tawny Hottentots,
though not approaching the European, differ from the
Negro. Again, some of the tribes, on the Gold* Coast and. the
Sipve Coast, and the l bos -in the Bight of Beninas are of a
lighter complexion; than many other Negroes-, while their features
are strongly marked with the peculiarities of that race.
These observations . can hardly be^reconciled with the hypothesis
that the Negroes, ares one. distinct,specif, We might
more easily - adopt the-, notion,that, there are among them a
number of separate species, .each, distinguished by spuie*, peculiarity
which another wants; but on that supposition the deviation
will be; so gradual from the physical character of other
human races, as, to undermine the ground on.which the opinion